Instead of being restricted to elites, it is cultured and ordinary people who need to engage the dialogue of civilisations, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi* The dialogue among civilisations aims mainly at avoiding misunderstanding and negative preconceptions among various cultures in today's world. UNESCO, which made a point of sponsoring the dialogue, says it is a way to find peace "in the minds of men". Ironically, it was globalisation that made the world a dangerous place. Our world was never more connected than today, thanks to information technology and a multitude of gadgets that brought the world together and unleashed an unprecedented exchange of ideas, knowledge and values. While encouraging exchange and interaction, globalisation has inexplicably widened the scope of ignorance and misunderstanding. The spread of terror is nothing but a sign of heightened ignorance among cultures, nations and communities. It was globalisation that prompted some writers to predict a clash of civilisations, a theory that has been debunked and dismissed by many in the Western and Muslim worlds. Former German president Roman Herzog once said that the clash of civilisations is a scary theory that mustn't be allowed to take root in the minds of elites in the East and the West. Across the Western-Muslim divide, the same view was echoed by Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, who said that the dialogue of civilisations must turn from words into a programme of action. Now that the world has realised the value of dialogue and indeed organised numerous conferences to consider the matter in its various aspects, one wonders: has the dialogue of cultures achieved its goals? To answer this question, let's recall the offensive Danish cartoons, the support they generated in the Western world, and the anger the episode left in the Islamic world. In a way, the whole affair was characteristic of the enduring misunderstanding in Western-Muslim relations. It wasn't just the cartoons that sent Muslims into an unprecedented bout of outrage. Muslims were already angry. They were already angry at events in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya. They were already angry at the double dealing in nuclear non- proliferation and other matters. They were outraged to see Israel's possession of nuclear weapons go unnoticed. And they were furious at the way Muslims in the US and the West were subjected to harassment and prevented from asserting their identity. For the past 10 years, tensions have been building up between the Islamic world and the West. Theories of the clash of civilisations set the stage for the explosion of hatred that followed the 9/11 attacks. Thankfully, prudent people on both sides took steps to build bridges and recapture the spirit of tolerance. Their efforts resulted in a flurry of conferences and panels discussing Islam and the West. Has dialogue succeeded in bridging the gap? The short answer is no. Prejudices still exist between the two sides, as well as misunderstanding. The artist who drew the offensive cartoons once said that had he known that his drawings were so offensive to Muslims, he wouldn't have drawn them. What does this tell us except that sheer ignorance of what religion means for Muslims is still alive and well in Europe. Another story might help to illustrate Western failure to understand Muslim customs and habits. Remember how the pilot of an Egyptian plane that crashed off the coast of New York was accused of taking the plane down? The accusation was based on the simple fact that he said tawakkaltu ala Allah (I rely on Allah) before the crash. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of Muslim societies will know that the phrase is repeated many times daily by Muslims conducting the most mundane of transactions. So far this dialogue of civilisations has been taking place among elites and behind closed doors. It is time we take it out to a larger audience, to young people in universities, associations, and civil society organisations. This is a task that Muslim elites and institutions should take on. We need to convey a fair impression of Islam and its tolerance to the widest possible Western audience. More importantly, we need to educate the world on the political matters that make Muslims angry. I, for one, believe that, unless coupled with just solutions to regional conflicts that have spawned mistrust for so long, dialogue will only remain an exercise in abstract rhetoric. * The writer is executive director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.
